4/6 Beyond Wrestling & Women’s Wrestling Revolution “Lit Up” in Kenner, La.: Intergender Matches including Riddle vs. Perazzo, Toni Storm vs. William Thatcher

BEYOND WRESTLING AND WOMEN’S WRESTLING REVOLUTION PRESENT “LIT UP”
April 6, 2018
Kenner, La. at the Pontchartrain Convention Center
Aired on WWN Live and Fite TV
Report by Jose Marrero (@jmarrrumbling)

So WrestleMania weekend continues with this offering from Beyond and its sister group Women’s Wrestling Revolution as they present  Lit Up. The whole theme of this show is inter gender matches. I’ll be 100 percent honest I am not a fan of intergender matches. Not necessarily because I think the women can’t hang, but more  because I’m not a fan of men hitting women and vice versa. So I don’t know how I feel about a whole show dedicated to it. However in saying all that I would be foolish not to see the audience for it, so I’m hoping for a good turnout and a fun show.

Show begins and the first thing I notice is the venue is just barren. Second thing is it just feels weird watching a beyond show with fans behind a guard rail as I’m so used to fans practically surrounding the ring and it’s one of the things I have come to enjoy about the presentation of beyond.

(1) DEONNA PERAZZO vs. MATT RIDDLE

This is opening it up and Riddle is out after winning the Evolve championship less than 2 hours ago looking fresh as a daisy. Oh I should also mention this is Riddles third match of the day. Something very weird about watching Deonna out wrestle Riddle and even stuff a takedown from the former UFC title contender. Deonna ran wild for a bit, outstriking Riddle for a time even but Riddle would catch her with a powerbomb and then knee strike for the win.

WINNER: Matt Riddle with a knee strike. Post match saw James Ellsworth attack Riddle from behind with his inter gender title. Ellsworth grabbed the mic, said you can’t have an intergender  show without the intergender champion and how he would see Riddle tomorrow as they are wrestling at Joey Janelas Spring Break 2. Riddle would chase him out and grabbed the mic and told the crowd how Ellsworth “fucked up”.

(2) TEAM PAWG JORDYNNE GRACE & MEPHISTO vs. EYFBO

As a warm up of sorts for their title defense tomorrow the Impact Wrestling tag team champions LAX otherwise known as EYFBO will also try their hands at wrestling women. It should be noted there was a female referee in this match which is cool as I don’t see enough of them considering all the women’s wrestling going on these days. I’ll say this much, EYFBO didn’t discriminate as they pretty much hit all their offense on these women and to the ladies credit they gave as good as they got. It’s one thing to watch these intergender matches in a comedic tone, it is a bit uncomfortable watching a female get mafia kicked by a male competitor, or repeatedly slapped. The worst part is the women won. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I was Don Callis or Scott D’amore and my tag team champions just put over women clean in the middle.

WINNERS: Team Pawg with Jordynne Grace pinning Santana clean in the middle. Afterwards the EYFBO team put over both ladies and told the crowd how this isn’t Men’s wrestling or Women’s wrestling but in fact pro wrestling. Somewhere Jim Cornette is rolling in his grave and he isn’t even dead yet.

(3) JOSH BRIGGS vs. DAVIENNE

Josh Briggs was just a participant in the New Japan Dojo in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, do you think Shibata taught him how to work with women? Davienne at least tried to get the jump on Briggs which to me seemed more believable than trying to wait for the bell and lock up with the guy. Somehow she managed to get heat on Briggs and establish herself as the heel. Can you believe that? Fans were cheering for Briggs to beat this woman up. Credit to them both for that. Some of the move choices like Davienne trying to samoan drop Briggs I’d of rethought as it just reinforced that she is a woman fighting a guy twice her size.

WINNER: Josh Briggs with a chokeslam into a back cracker which kind of just made the crowd pause as its just not the visual you cheer for.

(4) CHRIS DICKINSON & JAKA vs. THUNDER ROSA & HOLIDEA

So we had the Impact Wrestling tag team champions wrestle women, what could be better? Let’s have the Evolve tag team champions also wrestle women. Like Riddle earlier this is Dickinson’s third match of the day. Commentators were kind enough to point out how Dickinson and Jaka have also lost to Team Pawg in the past so I guess Mephisto and Grace are coming for the Uso’s next. The next time fans want to attack an old school guy for talking about things killing the business keep this fact in mind, Dickinson started this day off fighting Dan Severn and ended it going 50/50 with Holidead. I think the vets may know a thing or two. Dickinson and Jaka has a more competitive match with these women than the one they had on the evolve show, I’ll give the women credit as they pulled their weight in this match but it went too long for me.

WINNERS: Who else? Holidead and Thunder Rosa of course with a double foot stomp to the back of the head of Jaka. So the Evolve champions lost today too. Maybe Stokley Hathaway should sign these women.

(5) JONATHAN GRESHAM vs. KAREN Q

The same Jonathan Gresham who wrestled Jay Lethal on a major ROH show and is in the opener for Supercard of Honor went hold for hold with Karen Q. All jokes aside once you forget the fact that he was wrestling a woman both really did their part and had a nice little chain wrestling exhibition. It made me think of some of the high school wrestling meets with Q playing the part of the only girl on the team who has no choice but to wrestle the boys. Then they started striking each other and that small suspension of disbelief I had went out the window.

WINNER: Jonathan Gresham after finally getting the upper hand in a battle of pins. I actually enjoyed this match once I ignored the striking as it isn’t that unbelievable that a woman could outgrapple a man to me.

(6) JOEY RYAN & LAURA JAMES vs. TRAVIS HUCKABEE & SOLO DARLING

This match was just the typical Joey Ryan match with a lot of comedy. Some quick thoughts as maybe someone could answer this for me. Why do grown men try to get the lollipop off of Joey Ryan’s mouth? Just feels weird to me. So Joey Ryan’s offense obviously centers around his penis and I guess Laura James centers around her derrière, no wonder they are married. For me this was easily the most enjoyable match of the show as I didn’t have to take it seriously and was able to just enjoy it. We even had the debut of the vagina flip by Laura James I could’ve did without Joey power slamming Darling onto the ring apron though.

WINNERS: Solo Darling & Travis Huckabee after Ryan made the mistake of putting his lollipop in Darlings mouth leading to a sugar rush for the sugar creature and a sharpshooter submission on Ryan.

(7) POWERBOMB TV INDEPENDENT CHAMPIONSHIP KIMBER LEE vs. POWERBOMB TV INDEPENDENT CHAMPION TRACEY WILLIAMS

This is Williams third match of the night and the first time I’ve seen Kimber Lee since her WWE release. Normally this title is only defended on Powerbomb TV streams but since Beyond is a partner of Powerbomb we get this special title defense. I’ve probably seen more Kimber Lee matches involving her against men, than her against women to the point where she may be the only person on this card I kind of don’t mind taking on a man on this show. Tracey Williams may be the only guy in wrestling thinner than Zack Sabre Jr where there is a small part of me that actually believes Lee can kick his ass. Lee got going early but her stuff didn’t look as good as I remember and she looked kind of winded at times, she is obviously getting her legs back under her as she gets back in the swing of things. This crowd didn’t mind and they really seemed to want her to win the title here over Williams.

WINNER: Tracey Williams via crossface submission. Afterwards he shook Lee’s hbd and welcomed her “home” to Beyond Wrestling.

We got a few shoutouts from the ring announcer to staff who couldn’t make it and a plug for the next Beyond Wrestling show on April 28th.

(8) MIA YIM vs. TESSA BLANCHARD vs. MJF w/ Stokley Hathaway vs. WHEELER YUTA

David Starr was originally booked to be in this match but Beyond Wrestling and him parted ways with no explanation a few weeks ago, despite him being one of the top guys in the promotion. MJF is my favorite up and coming talent. The guy looks good, talks good, is athletic and just gets it. It won’t be long before he is on someone’s tv as he is just a can’t miss talent. Then again I say that and this is a match with Mia Yim and Tessa Blanchard who are two people who should be on tv right now and aren’t so what do I know? The interaction between Mia and Tessa was great and makes me want to see a match between them in the future and MJF is just such a despicable heel that this was an enjoyable match.

WINNER: Tessa Blanchard who pinned MJF after he bonked heads with Yuta in what I thought was the most clever finish of the night.

(9) JIMMY HAVOC vs. JESSICA HAVOK

The battle of the havocs? Why the hell not? This is one of the few man vs woman matches you will see where the man is at a size disadvantage. This may be the only match I saw where the striking a female thing didn’t bother me as much, as I just felt Jimmy was at a disadvantage. I think I’d of still preferred the visual of seeing Jessica rag doll him a bit more as it’s not something you see very often in a forum where it’s believable.

WINNER: Jessica Havoc after two chokeslams and a choke bomb.

(10) JOEY JANELA & PENELOPE FORD vs. ORANGE CASSIDY & SESSION MOTH MARTINA

Another comedy filled match that made me wonder how much more fun could WWE’s mixed match challenge have been if they had characters like these. It’s funny, I know I’m in the minority but I’ve never been a fan of Joey Janela the singles hardcore wrestler but everytime I see him as part of Janelope I’m always entertained. This time was no different as I was never bored in this match or wanting it to end. Mind you, I’m up at 3:30 in the morning and I’m dying with laughter as I watch this. There is something to be said for that. This match was just full of that many hijinks and if you watch one match on this show it has to be this one.

WINNER: Joey Janela & Penelope Ford after Ford cross body blocked Cassidy for the pin.

We got plugs for all the shows taking place tomorrow and that led us to our main event.

(11) TONI STORM vs.WILLIAM THATCHER

This was Thatcher’s 3rd match of the day and I was very curious as to how he would approach a match like this as it just seems out of his wheelhouse. What was established in this match is that Timothy Thatcher is a sadist. He doesn’t care what your gender is, he just enjoys hurting people and Storm wasn’t getting a pass as she spent most of this match in one submission hold after another. There were times when I thought Storm was an excellent babyface in peril and other moments where she just felt like a battered house wife which I didn’t enjoy as it made me very uncomfortable.

WINNER: Toni Storm with a unbelievable out of no where arm bar to submit Timothy Thatcher.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I made no secret I wasn’t a fan of this format all through the recap and I’m still not. I’ll admit most of these women have better worked matches with men than they would each other as the men make for better bases but I hate the psychology behind it. I’d much prefer to see these talented performers compete against their own genders, but that’s me. As I said at the top, there is an audience for this kind of thing and well if you are a part of that audience you will enjoy this show. If you feel the way I do, you probably won’t.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS REPORT: 4/6 EVOLVE 103 REPORT in New Orleans, La.: Evolve vs. The World with Matt Riddle, Sekimuto, Thatcher, Keith Lee, Garini, Jaka